Xia Junfeng

Xia Junfeng was a street food seller in China who was convicted of murder in 2009 and executed in 2013.

Trial and execution Junfeng's death sentence was carried out, despite two appeals, after he was convicted of murdering two officials who were trying to stop him from trading.

Xia claimed he stabbed the two officials in self-defense after they beat him. The court ruled there was no evidence of self-defense and convicted him of murder. A higher court upheld the lower court's ruling.

A group of 25 human rights lawyers objected, citing uncertainty in the case, and asserting that the Chinese Supreme Court should have intervened. Xia's case was contrasted with that of Gu Kailai, the wife of politician Bo Xilai, who had been imprisoned for corruption. The lawyers issued a joint statement condemning what they said was an unjust execution. The statement was signed by prominent lawyers including Li Fangping, Teng Biao and Jiang Tianyong.

Public response Xia 's execution prompted an outcry on China's social media sites, and quickly became the most discussed topic on Sina Weibo, China's equivalent of Twitter. Social media users noted how the well-connected Gu was spared her life; while a lowly street vender was put to death.

There was sympathetic coverage even from pro-government news media. Global Times, a Chinese Communist Party tabloid, portrayed the case as a tragedy. While the official Xinhua news agency ran a series of paintings by Xia's young son – including one depicting a child running to embrace his father. Teng noted that a conviction of intentional homicide requires proof of a premeditated crime – and that was an example of "extreme unfairness under the law".

Andrew Jacobs, of The New York Times pointed out the similarities between Xia's case and that of Cui Yingjie, a unlicensed sausage vendor in Beijing, convicted in 2007 of slashing to death an enforcement official who had seized his cart. Cui, however, had been given a suspended death sentence.